Code Sierra
by AethericPhoenix
Summary: A story of a shiny, mint blue snivy, stuck with a trainer who forgets how hard a pokemon battle can be, on both the trainer and the pokemon. Has some slight realism thrown in.
1. Prologue

Usually when you think of something shaking in the pokemon world, the image of a pokeball shaking as you wait and see if you've captured that pidgey or if it will escape. Not many think about an egg, shaking as it starts to hatch, shards of the shell falling off as the pokemon inside is revealed

That's the situation Liam Bohn found himself in, watching the pale white shell slide away, revealing the bluish green, leafy texture of the pokemon trapped inside. A snivy, but the colour wasn't right. They're usually fully green, but this one had a bluish mint tint to it. A shiny snivy.

The shell fell away, letting it unfurl itself, red eyes looking up at the child staring at it. "Wow… a pokemon!" The child says, amazed. "What could I call you?" The child thinks out loud to himself, looking over the small creature in front of him. The snivy looked around, blinking, taking in it's surroundings. A red bed, a picture of some sought of yellow mouse, a red and white ball.

"Sierra!" The child said it with such suddenness and energy the poor pokemon jumped and fell off where it had been placed, the small 'nest' on top of a desk of some kind, falling to the ground. Liam quickly picked it up, checking it over for injuries. They sighed in relief seeing they were unharmed.

And with that, she was known as Sierra. She would cause so much trouble, to herself and the world, and fix more then what she caused, but for now, she would be the first pokemon Liam ever had to care for, and would be the pokemon he'd start his adventure with


	2. The journey begins

The sun glistened down beyond the leaves of the tree, leaving a waving shadow on the grassy ground. In this shade Sierra laid, eyes closed, enjoying the summer heat. She always enjoyed the sun- no surprise for a grass type- but it was a symbolic thing to her as well. Sunlight meant freedom, and the fresh air. She didn't like being inside, either in a house or anything of the like. It wasn't claustrophobia, but just the sense that no-one controlled her.

"Sierra!" Called a male voice. Not Liam's, but his father's. She opens an eye, looking at the window of the house. She was comfortable here, did she _have_ to get up? "Sierra!" They called again. "It's lunch time!" At this she wondered whether it was worth getting up for the food, or to just lay there, and continue enjoying her spot. With a groan, her mind decided, she got up, her tail lazily scraping the ground as she walked towards the house, and climbed through an open window. The door had a pet door on it, sure, but she couldn't care less.

Liam was at the table, eating a sandwich. She could see lettuce and some sought of fish pokemon. Probably a magikarp; at least it would be too dumb to realise it's dead. She looked over to her bowl, full of pokemon food. Bland, but better then the sandy taste of the berries the tree made. She walked over to her bowl, picking at the pellets, before starting to eat them.

Sierra heard Liam and his father talking, and listened in as she slowly ate the pellets.

"It's your birthday tomorrow," the father said, "but I couldn't wait." The father passed some sought of ball to the child, Sierra's sharp eyes catching the red and white coloration of it out of the corner of her eye. A pokeball, of course. And she was the only pokemon of the household. It was obvious who and what the pokeball was for. Sierra hesitated, should she run? Should she try proving she was against this somehow?

Unfortunately to her, her hesitation made her lose her focus, and before she knew it, something bonked against her head. She heard a whoosh, everything went red, and it was dark, before things faded in to view…

It looked like a forest in the pokeball, a sunny shine covering the area, with a few trees casting shade. Some had berries even, and she could hear other pokemon cries in the forest. But it didn't feel right to Sierra. The sunlight felt fake, and she could hear but not see the pokemon. She even felt like her essence was being absorbed into this fake world. She started running, slightly panicking, instinctively frightened by the fake feeling, before hitting an invisible barrier. She beat against the slightly curved surface of the barrier, feeling it crack, then shatter, tripping as she broke through.

She opened her eyes. She was on the kitchen floor again, face down, a red ball next to her. She must have escaped it, before it fully captured her. She quickly stood up, looking back at the father and the kid, both surprised of the escape, before the child quickly picked up the ball. She went back to her pellets, slightly shook from the experience, but otherwise fine. She couldn't even feel the aftereffects of hitting the solid barrier so hard.

Liam went back to his room, obviously a little down. His first pokemon 'capture' had failed, and it was his own pokemon no less. The father didn't know what to do. The snivy was the only pokemon they had, and had been with Liam for a long time. He couldn't just get another pokemon either, there were no nearby breeders, nor were the pokemon in the area even decent enough to be a partner to someone. He was lucky to even get the snivy, the egg given by a cousin who wasn't sure what egg it was.

In any case, Sierra finished her pellets, before escaping back outside, and climbing into the tree, where the branches would block any pokeball being flung up at her. She still hadn't calmed from that feeling she had in the pokeball, so her chance to rest and think was welcomed, despite the events leading up to needing it were short. Laying in the branches, she started to nap, but it eventually drifted closer to a deep sleep, laying up there until the sun started to rise the next day.

"Sierra!" She woke up to her name being called, and she looked at the base of the tree. Liam stood there, calling up into it, pokeball in hand. She sighed, closing her eyes again and laying down, starting to enjoy the rising sun. She didn't do much during the day, willing to lay in the sun all day, maybe chase Emolga's from the trees nearby sometimes, but today she didn't feel like laying still, and so, after a few minutes of her name being called, slowly and carefully started to climb down, watching that imprisoning red orb. It wasn't ever thrown at her. Eventually, she was on the lowest branch, looking at the kid.

"Hey, Sierra. I know we don't talk much nowadays, so I was wondering if you'd like to sit with me, maybe talk a bit."

Sierra immediately thought it was a trap, but still came down, just as slowly and carefully as before, before touching the ground, turning to Liam.

"So, Sierra, as you know, today's my birthday," he starts, unsure whether to continue or not, "and I'm… well, I'm starting my journey today. I'm sorry for that entire pokeball thing yesterday, I was just so excited that I did it without thinking. I'm just hoping you'll forgive me, so you can join me on my journey. Please?"

Sierra stared into Liam's eyes. One one hand, she never really warmed up to him, and had no reason to listen to him. On the other, she herself had wanted to leave and explore the region herself, but she had no experience in the wild. Mulling it over for a few seconds, she sighed, before nodding. Liam smiled. "Great." he says, somewhat relieved he wasn't rejected, before pulling out the pokeball again. "Should we give this a sec-" he didn't even finish his sentence before the leafy tail of Sierra slapped the pokeball away, signifying her decision. He recollects the pokeball, putting it back. "Well, I guess it means I can catch another pokemon..." He says to himself.

He started walking back to the house, Sierra following… at a distance. She trusted him with that pokeball as much as you'd trust a snorlax in a bakery. He started talking again, but Sierra had already half tunned him out again, going back to her own thoughts. "The professor will be here in an hour, and I'll get my pokedex and my badge case and..." Sierra continued to ignore him, imagining what the forests and caves and cities would look like, wondering if they looked like the pictures she had seen.

With an hour of time to kill, she started eating her breakfast. More flavourless, cheap pellets. She wondered if anyone who even liked pokemon had actually tried a pellet. Probably not, otherwise it wouldn't taste like water. She finished it off, being hungry after accidentally skipping dinner the night before. She started to climb her tree again, chasing out the Emolga that usually took over when she wasn't there. _"Get out of my tree!" _Sierra yelled at the fleeing Emolga, before settling into the branches herself.

Daydreaming of what the future might hold, being given a chance to travel, she didn't notice the white coated professor entering the house, followed nearly immediately by someone in a green jacket. Eventually, Sierra was called inside by Liam. She stretched, entering the house. Through the pet door this time, someone closed the window. That's when she'd notice the professor, and the green jacket. "My, so, you've raised this pokemon from hatching?" Liam nodded in response. The professor goes to pick Sierra up, which immediately makes her wary. The professor recognised this, and smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you." The professor's voice was oddly soothing, and Sierra's guard dropped, letting herself be picked up.

"Fascinating… I've rarely ever seen such a coloration of a snivy, but I've never seen one with such reddish eyes." Sierra stared into the professors eyes, before they felt a hand stroke down their back. "Rather rough skin, too, smooths out near the tail however." Sierra wasn't used to being so closely observed, and started to squirm. The professor put them down, seeing she no longer wished to be held. "I think they'll serve you nicely for your first pokemon." The professor turned to Liam's father. "You must tell me who gave you this pokemon..." he says, walking into the other room with him.

Liam and Sierra were left alone in the room. Neither moved much. Sierra with her not knowing what to do, after realising she had just let herself be picked up, and Liam with him waiting to be allowed to go on his adventure. After a few minutes, the professor came back. "Right Liam, you ready to go and see how to catch a pokemon?" Liam grinned, responding quickly with "Yes, Ma'am." The professor walked out, Liam following, and Sierra following somewhat close behind.

They reached the edge of town, where there was a lot of tallish grass. "A hint, and a warning, Liam. Pokemon like to hide in tall grass, so don't be surprised when one attacks you for disturbing it. It's a good way to find one however." The professor walked into the grass a bit, before a pokemon jumped out. A patrat! The professor threw her own pokemon, calling out a minccino. "Minccino, double slap!"

The minccino was quick, Sierra had to give it that, swiftly beating down on the patrat, who was obviously regretting showing up. "You have to weaken it first." The professor said, explaining it to Liam, who looked on as he listened. "Then..." The professor pulled out a pokeball, lightly tossing it at the patrat. The patrat was quickly enveloped by a red glow, before fading into the pokeball. The pokeball shook for a bit, before a click could be heard. The patrat was caught.

The professor picked up the pokeball, before turning to Liam, offering him 5 empty pokeballs, ready to catch some pokemon in. That's when the professor had noticed Sierra watching, not in their pokeball. "Might be best to put that snivy away while you're travelling. Where's it's pokeball?" Liam hesitated, before replying. "It… doesn't have one. Well, I have one for it, but it refuses to be captured."

The professor shook their head. "That won't do. If it's not tied to a pokeball anyone could easily snatch it with their own, and I doubt any official gym or the like will accept it as a fighting pokemon." Liam turned to Sierra, ready to ask again with this new information, but Sierra stuck her nose up, obviously denying she would go with it. With a sigh, he put all the pokeballs away again, giving him 6. "Maybe later then."

The professor smiled. "That pokemon's a defiant one, isn't it? In any case, hopefully it protects you until you capture another pokemon at least." They look at their watch. "Well, It's time I get back. Oh, I nearly forgot!" The professor pulled a small, rectangular device out of his pocket. "This is the pokedex. It contains data on pokemon all throughout Unova. If you ever get stumped about a pokemon, or curious about what it is, just point the camera at it."

"Thank you professor!" Liam said, eagerly taking the device, looking it over, before putting it away. The professor nodded, before turning around, heading back. "Come visit again when you collect a few pokemon, eh?" She says as she walks away. Liam nodded, despite her obviously not being able to see him, before turning back, looking at Route 1, then to Sierra. "You ready?"

Sierra didn't respond, simply walking into the grass. With a sigh, Liam followed, wondering what kind of pokemon he'd meet.


	3. Travelling takes a while

It was be rather awkward to see a pokemon leading a trainer, but that was the predicament Liam found himself in, Sierra leading the way. They had yet to meet a wild pokemon, if you exlcude those in the trees that stayed away. Liam wasn't very nervous, but Sierra was almost scared. She was a small pokemon in a large forest. She sighed at her own thoughts. Was she just scared of forests in general? The pokeball, then here in an actual forest. It's ironic really, a grass pokemon not liking foresty areas.

The sun was starting to set, their first day hadn't been too good. No pokemon tried to attack, but Liam didn't wan't to start the fight. Sierra was fine with that, being here to travel and not fight in her eyes, but Sierra had tripped on a rock earlier, which hurt her foot, so walking was a pain for a while. Liam had offered the pokeball again, but she refused it. Liam was slightly annoyed. His only pokemon refused to be in a pokeball, or even have one assigned to it, and wouldn't count for a gym battle, and with no wild pokemon braving a battle, he couldn't catch one.

Eventually, they stopped in a clearing, starting to set up a very basic camp. A campfire, some food and a tent was laid out. It took Sierra a few seconds to realise, but there was little shelter for her, and she could see some storm clouds rolling in. She groaned; where was she meant to sleep without getting wet? She didn't want to be in the tent with Liam, pokeball was and will always be a no-no, and the trees were thing and block very little water.

"Snivy." Sierra says, trying to get Liam's attention. He took a second, but he turned to her. "What is it Sierra?" She pointed a vine to the clouds, and Liam looked up. "Oh, uh..." He looks through her bag, looking for something, before finding it. He pulled out a bright yellow raincoat, obviously planning to use it to help keep Sierra dry. Sierra sighed. It would help but-

She had an idea. Grabbing the coat- surprising Liam- and grabs some sticks, starting to use it with the sticks to set up a makeshift tent. It wasn't the best, but it kept itself up. Sierra was happy with herself, proud of quickly figuring out a solution. Liam was impressed. "You're certainly smarter then I ever gave you credit for." He says, just before the rain started to fall, and hard. Liam quickly retreated to the tent, and Sierra made her way into her makeshft cover. Rain pattered down, the sound of it loud, yet oddly soothing to Sierra. It was uncomfortable sleeping straight on the hard ground, but she still managed to slowly fall asleep.

She was woken up in the middle of the night however, the rain still drizzling down, to something snuffling around outside. She started to feel scared, what did she do? Back home her tree was uncontested, not counting the Emolga that always took it over when she wasn't there. She took a deep breath, gathering her courage, and poked her head out, to see…

A rattata. She sighed, laughing. The rattata jumped at the soft laughter, immediately focusing on the Snivy. _"What are you doing out of your pokeball? Don't all you captured scum sleep in their pokeballs?"_ Sierra, too relieved to be insulted, answered back honestly. _"No, some of us sleep outside. Or in my case, I don't actually have a pokeball."_ The rattata scoffed. _"So? Why travel with a trainer then? You know what they're like._"

"_You have a point, but… I don't know. I wouldn't have anywhere else to go, and it could be worse. Plus he cares about me enough to not let me be stolen or the like, especially with those thieves running around."_

This only earned another scoff. _"In any case, where's your food? I'm starving!"_ Sierra raised an imaginary eyebrow at this. _"Why not eat the berries? They're everywhere around here!"_

"_All the berries here taste horrible, the food you weenies in the towns get tastes a lot better."_

Sierra smiled at him. _"Or maybe you're too weak to get the berries because all the pokemon take yours."_ She says back. He immediately got mad at her. _"That's not true,"_ he replies, _"I'm one of the better rattata in this forest!_

"_Prove it."_ she challenges him, confident she could take on a rattata, especially this one. The rattata immediately goes for a tackle, but she swiftly deflects him with her tail, before ramming them herself, making them stumble. They recovered, only to meet Sierra's leer. The rattata, hesitating from her gaze, was immediately punished by another tackle. That one definitely hurt, and they laid on the ground, moaning. _"S-stop, you proved your-"_ Suddenly he flashed red, as a white and red ball bounced off the rattata's back. Sierra turns,spotting Liam poking his head of his tent, sleepy and having been woken by the fight, he capitalised on the moment and threw the ball.

She turns back to the ball. It shakes once… twice… thrice… and then it's clicks. Rattata was caught!

She sighed, picking it up. _"**Captured scum**, you say? I think that's a bit hypocritical now."_ She tosses the pokeball back to Liam, who had only heard "Sni, snivy? Snivy vy snivy", not wishing to take care of it herself as she went back into the makeshift tent she made, laying back down. That night, she slept like a rock.

She woke in the morning, stretching, exiting her tent and looking at the sun shining through the trees.. It was still a bit cloudy, but the rain had passed, leaving the air surprisingly cold considering it was summer. Stretching, she starts climbing one of the closer trees, reaching it's top and looking around. She couldn't see any town or city nearby, which slightly disappointed her. Traveling took a lot longer then she thought it would.

She climbed back down just in time to see Liam exiting his tent, stretching and yawning. She sat on the lowest branches, watching him. He looked around for Sierra, though quickly found her up in the tree, and seeing she was safe he started to make a campfire to cook breakfast. Toast, it seemed, as he was carrying a full loaf of bread which he pulled out when the fire was lit.

She watched the toast as it cooks, Liam searching his bag for something, probably those pokemon pellets she despised, but judging by how he couldn't find whatever he was looking for he'd left it at home. She climbs down the trunk, moving back over to the camp sight. "Good to see you were already awake" he says, passing her a slice of the slightly burnt toast. She took a curious sniff of it. She had never had any human food before, with the exception of a chocolate chip she nicked off with when Liam's father had been backing chocolate and finding out she loved chocolate, but that was years ago, and the opportunity never arose again.

She takes a bite, and despite it being plain, the slightly burnt flavor was a fair bit better then the flavourless pellets. She quickly devoured it, enjoying it, though it certainly left her thirsty. "Sni, snivy." (_"I'm thirsty."_) She says, looking at him. Whether ignorant, or not knowing what she wanted, he didn't listen to her. In a huff she started searching in his bag, which surprised him.

"H-hey! Get out of there!" He says, going to pull her out, before she pulled herself out, now with a bottle of water. She quickly opens the cap, taking a drink, catching Liam by surprise. Having lived among humans for a long time and taking care of herself, she had learned how to manipulate a fair few things that other pokemon couldn't. She could even use potions, having watched enough use of it from the average trainer that had a fight in the street with their new starter pokemon, though she wasn't dexterous enough to use it in a quick situation.

She didn't put the bottle back, carrying the bottle with a vine. Liam still looked on in surprise at how intelligent she was, learning to open the bottle. "I think you're the first pokemon I've ever seen to open a bottle..." He says, mostly to himself, trying to grasp what just happened. She stared at him for a second, finding his reaction funny, before going to lay down in the sun, while he started packing up camp.

She enjoyed the sun, eyes closed, when she heard a rustle nearby. She swings herself around and gets up, using her tail to balance as she looked at the rustling, wary. The rustling came closer and closer, before something stepped out. A vulpix! Sierra stepped back, already understanding the situation and the type disadvantage. The vulpix stepped back too, spooked by Sierra's sudden movements.

Sierra stood still, watching the vulpix, studying it, before Liam, noticing the two, called out "Sierra! Use tackle!" Sierra, surprised by Liam's commanding tone, turned to him for a second, before she heard rustling, and turned back to the vulpix. The vulpix had already fled, making Liam groan, disappointed. "Why didn't you use tackle? You're meant to listen to me." Sierra just gave him a dirty stare. "Snivy sni snivy vy?!" (_"Since when was I meant to listen to you?!"_) Her tone shocked Liam, not expecting her to be so mad. He knew his friends pokemon, but none seemed to be so cognizant like Sierra.

Now in a foul mood, she sat away from Liam, not even looking at him or responding to what he said, not even listening. He eventually gave up, continuing to pack up camp. After a few minutes, Sierra would feel a little push on her shoulder, and she went to turn and snap at Liam for disturbing her, but halted her anger when she saw the camp was completely packed up. She stands up, still moody, and started walking along the path, leading Liam again. It seemed Liam had figured out he had pissed off the snivy, and didn't complain about them leading the way at all this time.


End file.
